Water, Water Everywhere...

Sorry for the break in my postings here - I recently moved to a new apartment in Vancouver, so I did not have access to the Internet for a while. I'm back now and here's a timely post about water consumption.

The average human body is 60% water. Proper hydration is critical, since the human body is unable to adapt to dehydration. When we are dehydrated, every biological and physiological function within our body becomes impaired. Our circulatory function suffers and our physical performance level drops.

With proper water intake, the human body can operate at optimum levels and the benefits include:

• Biological and physiological functions (such as circulatory functions, metabolic functions, liver functions and endocrine gland functions) operate at normal levels
• Physical performance returns to peak levels
• Water retention is lowered
• Nutrients, vitamins and minerals are more easily distributed throughout the body
• Body temperature is properly regulated
• Appetite decreases

How much water should we consume to gain these benefits? The average person should drink 96 ounces or 2.84 litres of water per day. This is equivalent to twelve 8-ounce glasses of water (or approximately eleven 250 mL glasses of water). For those individuals who are following a program designed for fat loss, an additional 8 ounces of water (~240 mL) per day should be consumed for every 25 lbs (~11.3 kg) of body weight that you are above your ideal weight. If you live in a warm climate (or during summertime), you should increase your water intake since higher temperatures cause you to lose more water through perspiration. It is important that you determine how much water you need on a daily basis and then ensure that you consume that amount. Do not rely on feelings of thirst to indicate when you should drink more water. By the time you feel thirsty, your body has already entered a dehydrated state.

Water consumption is of particular importance to athletes. Athletes lose much more water through perspiration than do inactive individuals and thus need to increase the amount of water they consume. The following guidelines are provided by NASM for fluid replacement for athletes:

• Consume 16 ounces (~473 mL) of water before exercise - an additional 8 to 16 ounces may be required if you will be exercising in warm or hot weather
• Consume 20 to 40 ounces (~590 mL to 1.18 L) of water for every hour of exercise
• If exercising for one hour or less, water is the best choice for fluid replacement
• If exercising for more than one hour, a sports drink could be used to replace both fluid and muscle glycogen stores - but pay attention to the nutrition label of the sports drink (some can be quite high in sugar and calories, so you might prefer to choose a drink that provides electrolytes but is lower in sugar and calories)
• After the completion of exercise, consume 20 ounces (~590 mL) of water for every pound of body weight that was lost during exercise (if you can weigh yourself before and after exercising)